In a ubiquitous computing environment, many different computing technologies are integrated into the environment of human beings and provide useful services to humans in their day-to-day lives at work or at home. Such environments relate to systems and infrastructures known as “Smart Items Technology,” “Intelligent Ambience,” or “Wearable Computing.”
In ubiquitous computing applications environments of highly distributed applications run in the form a variety of cooperating, heterogeneous devices (e.g., PDAs, smart phones, sensor devices, RFID tags, embedded devices, PC's, servers, GPS satellites, computing networks, telephones, televisions, etc.) or services (e.g., various software programs, routines, platforms, and executable code) using a variety of different communication technologies and protocols to exploit their computing capabilities. Individual devices run components or services that can be combined, i.e., “composed,” into more complex services or applications. Such a component- or service-based approach to the development of ubiquitous applications supports the distribution of functionality across the set of available devices, enables better reusability of components in different/new applications, and supports the development of ubiquitous applications by dividing the overall functionality into multiple components with clearly defined interfaces that can be developed and tested separately.
An example of a ubiquitous computing environment is a smart items infrastructure (“SII”). Smart item technologies may include, for example, radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems, embedded systems, or sensor networks, and may be used, for example, to provide business software applications with fast access to real-world data. For example, smart item technologies may be used to support the detection, reading, or writing of RFID tags, as well as to support communication with, and control of, wireless sensor networks and embedded systems. In many instances, smart items may include devices having local processing power, memory, and/or communication capabilities that are capable of providing data about the device and its properties, or information about a current state or environment of the smart item devices. Accordingly, some such devices may be used in the execution of service components of back-end or underlying business applications, and, in particular, may do so in a collaborative way, e.g., by forming mobile ad-hoc networks to collect, process, or transmit business data.
Examples of smart item devices include an RFID tag, which may be passive or active, and which may be attached to an object and used to provide product or handling information related to the object. Other examples of smart item devices includes various sensors, such as, for example, environmental sensors (e.g., a temperature, humidity, or vibration sensor), which may be capable of communicating with each other in one or more sensor networks. These and other types of smart item devices also may include embedded systems, which may refer generally to any system in which a special-purpose processor and/or program is included, and/or in which the system is encapsulated in the device being controlled.
Through automatic real-time object tracking, smart item technology may provide businesses with accurate and timely data about business operations, and also may help streamline and automate the business operations. Accordingly, cost reductions and additional business benefits (e.g., increased asset visibility, improved responsiveness, and extended business opportunities) may be obtained.